xt73j9605t7z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt73j9605t7z/data/mets.xml Spaulding, Arthur W. 1915  books b92hn79a2s652009 English Southern publishing association : Nashville, Tenn. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Appalachians (People). Southern States --Social conditions. The men of the mountains; the story of the southern mountaineer and his kin of the Piedmont; with an account of some of the agencies of progress among them. text The men of the mountains; the story of the southern mountaineer and his kin of the Piedmont; with an account of some of the agencies of progress among them. 1915 2009 true xt73j9605t7z section xt73j9605t7z 
  
  
  
  
  
  
Cfje 0Lm of tfie jHountaing

T h e Story of the S o u t h e r n M o u n t a i n e e r a n d H i s K i n o f the P i e d m o n t ; w i t h an Account of S o m e o f the A gencies o f Progress a mong T h e m

BY

A RTHUR W . SPAULDING

SOUTHERN A TLANTA, GEORGIA

PUBLISHING

ASSOCIATION FORT WORTH, TSXAS

NASHVILLE,

TENNESSEE

  
  
PREFACE

A M E R I C A k nows least of what is m ost A merican. M elting-pot of the nations, with Europe's and Asia's dross t hrown i n along with their good m etal, she is likely t o forget, i n all this conglomerate, t he base of the alloy, w hich m ade t he nation and which must yet preserve it. I n t he providence of God there has been s aved to America a l ong wedge of that pure metal     a golden wedge of O phir. S tretching from N o r t h to South, scarce t wo h undred miles inland, are the mountains that formed t he frontier of English America when America became a n ation. T hese m ountains are filled with the s tock ? of the Revolution, a race w ith the primitive virtues t hat won our liberties, that extended our borders, that p reserved the ideal of freedom i n its great hour of t rial. A s mattering of knowledge   gained mostly from works of fiction     has the American public of this great mountaineer race, a smattering that begets more of idle wonder and vacant amusement than of honest a dmiration a nd symapthy. Yet the Southern mountaineer is, all Schooled i n a ll, the m ost a dmirable type of American.

t o simplicity, not lacking in vigor, he keeps i n great degree t he powers t hat preserve nations, powers t hat too m any of our people are losing in the nerve-racking s train of our unexampled age. V What of opportunity (3)

  
4

P reface

a nd resource the mountaineer lacks it is the duty of more f ortunate classes to supply. It is a duty of patriotism, a nd above a ll a duty of C hristian b rotherhood. F or a n intelligent application of this aid a correct a nd s ympathetic understanding of conditions is necessary. I t has been the pleasure of a few of the mountaineer's friends to help give this understanding; yet, compared w ith t he greater number of doubtful works t hat e xploit chiefly his peculiarities and faults, the efforts of these friends are not too many nor too great. I t is, t hen, w ith some confidence of need that this present v olume is put forth, containing a brief account of the o rigin a nd history of the Southern mountaineer, of some of the most representative agencies for his development, a nd i n particular of one widespread system that seeks to minister to the needs and to enlist more ministers. T he credit for the i nitiation a nd successful prosecution of the work on this b ook i s due to M r s . E llen G . White a nd her son, W illiam C . White. Their deep a nd practical interest in the cause of C hristianity i n the South, evidenced in many a phase and field, l ed them to propose such a work as this and to make possible the research and effort which produced it. A cknowledgment is also gladly given of the aid rendered by the teachers of the N ashville A gricultural a nd N ormal I nstitute and of the smaller schools throughout the South affiliated w ith t hem, as also of the assistance a nd encouragement of friends in other connections,

  
P reface

5

who have supplied information, corrected manuscripts, a nd g iven cordial support to the enterprise. T o the author the work has been a labor of love. S ince, w hen a boy, his lot was first cast among the S outhern m ountaineers, his interests and affections have been closely entwined w ith t heirs, and it is his confident hope t hat this b ook s hall be a means of enlisting many m ore friends, both youth and those in the prime of l ife, i n t he cause of the mountaineer. Hendersonville, N. November, 1915. C, A . w . s.

  
" T H E g reatest want of the w orld i s the want of m e n ,     m e n w ho w i l l n ot be bought or s old; m en w ho i n their inmost souls are true and honest; men w ho do not fear to c all s in by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to t he pole; men who w i l l s tand for the right though t he heavens f a l l . " E L L E N G . W HITE.

  
CONTENTS

CHATTER

HIGHLANDS AND HIGHLANDERS

PAGE

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

T H E EXPLORERS T H E PIONEERS I N T I M E S OF W A R EDUCATION AND R E L I G I O N T H E MODERN MOUNTAINEER T H E H E A R T OF A P P A L A C H I A

11 21 32 48 61 79

T H E V A N G U A R D OF T H E H E L P E R S
7. 8. 9. 10. T H E P I O N E E R SCHOOL T H E P R E M I E R OF H O M E MISSIONS REDEEMING THE T I M E COALS FROM T H E A L T A R 97 108 116 129

A B R O T H E R H O O D OF S E R V I C E
11. A SCHOOL OF SIMPLICITY 12. L E A R N I N G TO T E A C H 13. T H E OUT-SCHOOL M O V E M E N T 149 160 166

PIONEERING
14. 15. 16. 17. O N A N OLD FRONTIER B E H I N D T H E B A C K OF M A M M O N PREACHING BY H A N D SERMONS I N SOIL 177 187 197 206

THE MEDICAL
18. 19. 20.

MISSIONARY
221 227 235

FOLLOWING T H E G R E A T PHYSICIAN T H E R U R A L SANITARIUM T H E N U R S E AND T H E M E D I C A L MISSIONARY

S CHOOL W O R K
21. 22.

23. Vice and Victory
24. 25.

T H E SCHOOLS OF GOD T H E M O U N T A I N C H I L D AND T H E W O R L D

262
279 285

243 252

C OOPERATION
WHOSOEVER Is N O T AGAINST Us T H E T I M E S OF C H E E R

T H E H E L P OF T H E H I L L S
26. 27. T H E TORCH-BEARER A CHOSEN PEOPLE 297 307

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ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE

T H E M A K E R OF T H E H O M E B A T T L E OF K I N G ' S M O U N T A I N O N WATCH B A K E R M O U N T A I N SCHOOL AND C H U R C H R E L I E F M A P OF A PPALACHIA O LD AND N E W C ROSSING T H E B R A N C H L INCOLN M E M O R I A L UNIVERSITY CHAPEL, BEREA COLLEGE S TUDENTS A T H I G H L A N D C O L L E G E

Frontispiece 16 31 48 64 78 93 94 97 112 129 1 44 1 46 1 60 1 68 1 86 192 208 216 226 240 251 275 276 288 294 304

F IRST C A B I N , A ND R ECITATION H A L L , B E R R Y SCHOOL O NEIDA INSTITUTE A N ANCIENT ART O N M ADISON C A M P U S A T FOUNTAIN H E A D SCHOOL N ICKOJACK C A V E S HOPS, E U F O L A A C A D E M Y A N E W I NDUSTRY A T C O W E E M O U N T A I N SCHOOL E A G E R F OR P ROGRESS M ADISON R U R A L SANITARIUM P RIMITIVE M O T I V E POWER G OING TO M A R K E T I N T H E S APPHIRE COUNTRY S ELF-SUPPORTING W O R K E R S ' CONVENTION A K E N T U C K Y HOMESTEAD A FAMILY REUNION ( 8)

  
INTRODUCTION |^0 P A R T of the United States is more i nteresting t han t he section generally known as the Southern A ppalachian m ountain region, the upland South. In area t his mountain country, together w ith t he h ill c ountry i mmediatly a djoining it, is twice as large as all New E ngland. I t is r ich i n abundance and variety of n atural resources, genial climate, fertile soils adapted to a very large variety of fruits and field and garden crops, hardwood forests, waterpower, i ron, c oal, oil, zinc, copper, m arble, g ranite and other building stones, clays, material f or concrete a nd other raw materials for the most i m portant and valuable standard manufactured products. T he people of the country are of the purest American s tock, if indeed we may speak of an American stock. T hey are almost wholly the descendants of the E nglish, S cotch, Scotch-Irish, Germans, and French Huguenots, w ho settled in America before the Revolution. They are a hardy, intelligent, courageous, s elf-reliant people, as is well shown by the part they played in the Revolutionary W ar, the War of 1812, the Indian wars, Mexican War, a nd o n both sides in the C i v i l W ar. Their native i ntelligence and individualistic tendencies have only been a ccentuated by the hardships imposed on them by their e nvironment, their isolation, and their separation into v ery small communities, the long continued pioneer (a) c onditions under which they s till l ive after such conditions

  
Introduction h ave passed away from almost all parts of the country. A way f rom the routes of commerce and the centers of p opulation, these people may be backward i n t heir i ndustrial a nd commercial development, retarded to s uch a n extent that they have aptly been called " o u r c ontemporary ancestors," but no one who knows them w ell ever t hinks of them as weaklings or degenerates or as d ull or as slow witted. I n native a bility, p hysical a nd m ental, they are the f ull equals of any people i n the U nited S tates   a fact proven thousands of times b y the sons and daughters of t his s ection who w ith l ittle p reparation f rom the schools have made t heir homes i n other portions of the country and have come i n close c ompetition w ith other peoples in all the industries and professions. T he a ctual wealth of t his s ection is s mall as compared w ith other sections; but, as already stated, t his is not because of paucity of n atural resources; it is rather because of the greater difficulty of unlocking the treasure house of t his section and making its r ich stores of wealth a vailable for use. Some day t his w ill be one of the w ealthiest a nd most progressive sections of the U nited S tates, a nd these people in t heir o wn home l and w ill be ' recognized for the worth of t heir s turdy qualities. K nowing t his section and its people i ntimately, I a m c onvinced that t heir greatest need is in good schools a dapted to t heir c onditions     schools that w ill m ake t hem i ntelligent about the l ife t hey l ive; t hat w ill t each t hem w hat they need to know to enable them to adjust
(6)

  
Introduction themselves to their environment and to conquer i t ; schools that w ill a ppeal to children and grown people a like; schools w ith courses of study growing out of their d aily l ife as it is and t urning b ack into it a better and more efficient daily l iving. S tates, churches, benevolent societies, and individuals are now t rying to help these people to establish and m aintain s uch schools, and many i nteresting experiments in education can be found here. Some of these are wise and successful to a degree. Others, i n w hich the necessary fundamental principles have been omitted, are doomed to f ailure. C ollege, the Burns School, and others. schools A l l the world The smaller k nows of some of the larger of these schools, Berea maintained by the Seventh-day Adventists, Indeed, they are hardly Yet

d escribed in the latter part of this b ook, are not so w ell k nown b y the outside world. k nown b y the people who live a few miles away.

a c areful study of these schools, their s pirit a nd methods, t heir a ccomplishments and the hold that they have on t he people of the communities in which they are located, as w ell as of the earnest and self-sacrificing zeal of their teachers, has led me to believe that they are better a dapted to the needs of the people they serve than most o ther schools i n this section. They have discovered a nd a dapted in the most practical way the v ital p rinciples of education too often neglected. I c an never forget the summer day of 1913 when i n c ompany w ith D r . Sutherland and D r . Magan, of the s chool and r ural s anitarium at Madison, Tennessee, I (c)

  
Introduction first v isited some of these schools a nd learned how thoroughly they had adapted themselves to the conditions a nd needs of the people. I a m sure they are worthy of the most careful study of all who are interested in a dapting schools of whatever k ind to the needs of the people of all this mountain section and of all the Southern m ountain countries, and that they contain valuable lessons for the improvement of r ural schools i n all parts of the United States. F or the intelligent and sympathetic account of the section and people d escribed, and for the interesting and d etailed description of these small schools,   and Madison, i n w hich teachers for the small schools are prepared    t his b ook has unusual value. w hich i t has given me. I feel sure that many others w ill find in reading it some p art of the pleasure I commend it to all who are i nterested in any way in the people of these Southern h ighlands and in helping to improve their opportunities for a better type of education.

U. S. Commissioner of Education. Washington, D. Nov. C,

24, 1915

  
  
" T o T HE m ountains, i n time to come, we maylook for g reat m en, thinkers as well as workers, leaders of religious and poetic thought, and s tatesmen a bove a l l . " E MMA B . M ILES.

  
I
THE EXPLORERS

H E E nglishmen who set foot u pon the shores of w i l     derness V irginia i n the seventeenth century found themselves shut up against the sea by a long range of m ountains i n the west. Seeking a clear passage t hrough, t hey might wander i n v ain f ar toward the northern confines of Penn's woods a nd deep i nto the southern recesses of the C arolina g rants. Everywhere the u n known country beyond, which they sought to explore, was shut from their view by the blue, hazy, sentinel l ine of those m ountains. They called them the Blue R idge. T he early settlers believed that these mountains l ooked out upon the " S o u t h Seas." The blue haze t hat a lways surmounted them seemed proof that the ocean w ith i ts mists lay just beyond, and they thought t hey had only to f ind a c onvenient pass to enable them t o embark upon a v oyage to the Indies. It was to f ind s uch a pass that the valiant and venturesome John S mith, seven months after the landing at Jamestown i n 1607, set out on that expedition which ended i n his c aptivity to the sour-looking old Powhatan, and     perhaps     i n his rescue from death by the tenderhearted Pocahontas. S ixty m iles a bove J amestown, Smith's two companions were surprized and s lain b y Indians; and he himself,

  
12

T h e M e n of the M o u n t a i n s

after a plucky fight, was taken captive by Opekankano, the brother of the k ing. H e saved his life at the m oment by exhibiting to his captor his mystifying compass, and following up the effect b y a bewitching " d i s course of the roundnes of the earth [and] the course of the sunne, moone, starres, and plannets." The savage loves no one so much as an entrancing l iar, a nd evidently p utting S mith i n this catalog, the Indians carried h im first to Opekankano's town, where they treated him most k indly. T hereafter he was taken about from town t o town, u ntil a t last he was brought to the chief v i l lage of the Powhatans, the principal member of a confederacy of the coastal tribes. The head of this confederacy     the emperor, as S mith s tyles him     was also the chief of the Powhatan tribe, and was himself c alled, b y distinction, " T h e P o w h a t a n . " H ere for some d ays these two worthy representatives of the white and the red races sat exchanging their e ntertaining tales, each solemnly assuring himself     a nd w ith some reason     that the other believed h i m . J ohn S mith i nformed his Indian majesty that the white m en, being defeated in battle on the seas b y their enemies the Spaniards, had been forced to fly for refuge i nto t he red man's land, and then were compelled to s tay there by the leaking of their ship. Further, he explained, t he reason of his expedition up the river was to discover the way to the salt sea on the other side of t he mountains, for there his father had had a child s lain, whose d eath they intended to revenge. N ot to be outdone, the red man, "after g ood d eliberation," began to describe that same country upon t he salt sea, which he declared lay only just over the m ountains, some five, or six, or eight days' journey. So exact was his information that he named the p eople w ho had s lain S mith's supposititious brother, and told of their relations w ith o ther great peoples w ho sailed t he seas. One of these was a man-eating nation, w ith
1

' J o h n F iske, The Colonization

of the New

World,

p.

246.

  
The Explorers

13

s haven crowns a nd l ong queues, and "Swords l ike P o l l axes." Another wore short coats w ith sleeves t o the elbows, a nd w ent i n great ships l ike t he E nglishmen. T hese were only a few of the w onders; for there were m any other mighty nations, some of t hem having walled houses a nd p lenty of brass. A t l ast t he k ing, w arming to h is s ubject, disclosed t he i nformation that h is v illage l ay but one day and a h alf, t wo d ays, a nd six d ays from various ports upon " t h e s outh part of the b acke s ea." A l l t his a t l east, along w ith h is safe return t o J amestown, is t old i n " C a p t a i n John Smith's True Relation," p ublished i n 1608, t hough h is r omantic story of r escue b y P ocahontas he d id n ot put f orth u ntil m any years l ater. H o w much of t his " r e l a t i o n " of the great "backe s ea" just over t he m ountains came f rom t he l ips of P owhatan, a nd how m uch from John Smith's o wn f ertile b rain, we may not k now; b ut the a ccount a t least e xplains one cause of the w orld's persistent f aith i n the w estern sea l apping t he l ower slopes of the A p p a lachian c hain. S mith, f or the two y ears he r emained i n A merica, c ontinued active i n his efforts t o f ind a passage or a p ath t o the S outh Seas through those mountains. A n d n ot S mith a lone; f or there were many t o w hom n ot m erely t he w ealth of the I ndies, b ut the v ery real r omance of d iscovery, appealed. I n the f all of 1608 C a p tain C hristopher Newport, w ho had c ommanded t he e xpedition which founded Jamestown, and w ho h ad since w ith h is ships kept u p c ommunication between England a nd V irginia, o beyed t he i njunctions of the L ondon C ompany b y a ttempting a n e xpedition that should pierce t he m ountains t o the seas. H e succeeded, h owever, i n d oing no m ore than t o p enetrate forty miles a bove t he v illage of the P owhatan, from which point
1

^American History Leaflets, N o . 27, pp. 9-17; Narratives of Early Virginia, T yler, pp. 41-52; Works of John Smith, e dited by Arber, pp.

  
14

T h e M e n of the M o u n t a i n s

he and his company returned worn i n body and disappointed in hopes. T he ambition of the London Company, far more t han t he desire of the sore-pressed colonists, inspired t he earliest attempts to pass the mountains. The company's commands were l aid u pon C aptain N ewport, o n his t hird voyage, never to r eturn t o England without h aving made at least one of three discoveries: the way to the South Seas, a lump of gold, or a white man from R aleigh's lost colony on Roanoke Island. N ewport, h owever, was compelled to r eturn w ithout a ccomplishing a ny one of these three behests, and no d oubt his explanation of his failure was greatly helped b y John Smith's accompanying " R u d e A n s w e r " to a l etter of reproach and instruction the company had sent him. In this spirited statement of conditions, S mith l aid stress upon the need of establishing a firm basis for the colony by the sending of a g ood class of settlers, t he development of agriculture, and attention t o the needs and requirements of the colony, rather t han to the immediate enrichment and glory of the c ompany. For a time thereafter, while curiosity may n ot have lessened concerning the blue heights to the west, and what they might be h iding, t he practical
1 3

Amos Todkill and others, in " Description of Virginia and Proceedings of the Colonie," Tyler, Narratives of Early Virginia, p p. 151, 155,
1

156;

Works of John Smith, p p. F iske, Old Virginia

121,

124,

125.

2

p . 121.

and Her Neighbors,

p. 113;

Works of John

Smith,

S ir W alter Raleigh was the first to a ttempt E nglish colonization in A merica. He sent an expedition, of men only, in 1585, who settled on R oanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. These m en, however, returned within a year. I n 1587 Raleigh sent, u nder the command of J ohn W hite, a better equipped company, which included in its number seventeen women. This company likewise settled on Roanoke Island; and here, on August 18, was born the first English white child on American soil, Virginia Dare. White returned to England for supplies, only t o find himself in the midst of the Spanish war. It was two years before he could return to the infant colony in America; and when he did arrive, i t was only to find a deserted place. And though search was made for m any a year thereafter, no certain trace of the fate of this first and unfortunate colony was ever f ound.

  
T h e Explorers

15

energies of the l ittle V irginia c olony were absorbed i n t heir l ocal affairs. T hrough t he next quarter century, we catch a note now and then of interest and enterprise toward the west. I n 1626 the governor and council of V irginia w rote the E nglish g overnment desiring that provision be made for exploring the mountain country, w ith t he hope of finding passage to the South Seas. I n 1641 f our prominent gentlemen of the colony applied for permission to undertake discoveries to the southwest of t he Appomattox R i v e r . A n Indian report to the g overnor i n 1648, of high mountains, beyond which were great rivers and a great sea to which came r ed-capped m en i n ships, almost induced an expedition thither. T he governor at that time was that bluff, enterprising, g rasping, ruthless B ritish g entleman, W illiam B erkeley. H e had received from his patron, Charles I, a m onopoly of the fur trade i n the E nglish c olony; and as f rom the other side of the mountains there now began to come n ot only furs, but Indians w ith w ondrous tales, B erkeley grew eager to open a route to the over-mountain c ountry. Perhaps it would launch him upon the S outh Seas and the Indian trade; if not, there was profit as great i n buying for a few hatchets and handfuls of beads, beaver and fox and otter furs worth thousands of dollars. T he governor, though ever upon the verge of going h imself to view that good l and, never really saw even t he base of the mountains; but from 1650 to 1670 he d ispatched or authorized several expeditions which, w hile t hey discovered no "backe sea," did open to the v iew of the E nglish a broader field and a wider opportunity t han the South Seas could ever have afforded t hem. T here lived in 1650 at Fort Henry, o n the Y o r k
1 2 3 4

' A l v o r d and B idgood, TIte First Explorations gheny Region by the Virginians, p . 45. 'Id., p . 28.
s

of the

Trans-Alle-

Id.,

p . 46.

* N ow

P etersburg, V irginia.

  
16

T h e M e n of the M o u n t a i n s

R iver, a c aptain and merchant of adventurous disposition b y the name of Abraham Wood. A servant lad b rought over from E ngland, a nd indentured t o a p lanter for the payment of his journey's expense, A b r a ham W ood had risen step by step u ntil he was one of t he largest landowners in the colony, and a p rincipal dealer, under Berkeley, i n the fur trade. I n 1650 this C aptain W ood, w ith a n E nglish g entleman n amed B land, a nd two others, w ith w hite servants a nd a n Indian guide, made the f irst n otable western exploration o n record for the E nglish. T heir course led t hem s outhwesterly; but though they went some d istance into C arolina, t hey did not reach the mountains; a nd t heir discovery, supposedly, of a "westward flowing r i v e r " helped for a brief time to encourage the belief i n a n ear-by western sea. T his v iew was given weight by the fictions of another explorer, who actually claimed that, i n the region of w hat is now N orth C arolina, he had stood upon the shore of a sea that stretched westward beyond sight. T his m an was a German, John Lederer, and the statement above m entioned is from his account of his second exploring expedition. On a former t rip he had w on the d istinction, so far as the records go, of being the first w hite m an to ascend the mountains. I n this work of exploration he was encouraged and probably sent b y Governor Berkeley. Alone, except for some I ndian
1 2 3 1

    A n " indentured s ervant" was so called from the papers w hich bound him to a stated term of service. Such papers were u sually made i n duplicate, the two copies being written side by side on the same sheet, and then cut apart in a waved or indented line, for identification. Hence such papers were called "indentures."
'First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny pp. 5 ff. Region, p p. 34 ff.

i n S alley, Narratives
1

    Id., p p. 47-51; Discovery
First Explorations

of Early Carolina,

of New Brittaine,
Region,

b y Bland, reprinted
p p. 160, 161.

J ohn Lederer's account of his southwestern travels, published in 1672, is reprinted in the above named work. It might be possible, with a l ittle imagination, as one of his editors proves, to harmonize Lederer's accounts w ith geographical facts, supposing that he understates his distances and perhaps his time, and that he actually reached Florida and the Gulf; but such an interpretation is rejected b y Alvord and Bidgood.

of Trans-Allegheny

  
  
  
The Explorers

17

guides, Lederer set out i n 1669, and a fter nine days of t ravel r eached t he f oot of the B lue Ridge. I t t ook h im a w hole d ay to c limb t he m ountain; a nd t hen, though he imagined, from t he d eceiving mists t o the e astward, t hat he c ould see the A tlantic Ocean, h is eye searched i n v ain t o the w est; f or t here h e b eheld, instead of the great South S ea, n othing b ut a sea of m ountains. T here followed, i n 1670, his second expedition t o t he southwest, already mentioned; a nd a t hird, i n the l atter p art of the same year, i n w hich h e and ten o ther w hite m en r eached again t he crest of the B lue Ridge a t another point, only t o v iew t he d iscouraging height of t he great N o r t h Mountain, f ar up and across t he v alley. N o t yet was the m ystery of the m ountains s olved. G overnor Berkeley next turned t o t hat Captain (now Major-General) Abraham Wood whose first efforts we h ave seen, a nd c ommissioned him t o m ake a n a ttempt t o "goe f urther i n the d iscovry." Abraham W ood responded, n ot by p ersonally heading a n e xpedition     for he was now, p erhaps, t oo g reatly busied w ith h is g rowing affairs     b ut b y fitting o ut a p arty u nder Captain Thomas Batts, w ith R obert F allam, t wo o ther white men, and a n A ppomattox chief named Perecute. They were later joined b y s everal other Indians of t he same tribe. I t is p ossible that Abraham Wood himself h ad before t his crossed t he m ountains, b ut the evidence thereof i s too v ague t o m ake i t c ertain, a nd so f ar as records go, B atts a nd F allam h ave t he d istinction of b eing t he first t o r each t he w aters of the O h i o .
1 2 3

C aptain B atts a nd his p arty crossed t he B lue Ridge, a nd entered t he u pper part of the S henandoah Valley near the site of t he present city of R oanoke. A few m iles
1

Id.,

p p. 64, 145 ff.

' See First Explorations of Trans-Allegheny Region, p p. 52-55; C ollins, History of Kentucky, p . 805; Shaler, History of Kentucky, p . 59.

    This expedition of C aptain B atts a nd his p arty has received scant notice i n A merican histories. I f not in extent, a t least i n significance, i t should rank with the j ourneys of L a S alle and Marquette; for by it the 2

  
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s outh of t his they crossed t he d ivide, a nd entered t he v alley of a r iver flowing northward, which they followed to the present borders of the S tate of V irginia, a t P eters Falls. A t t his point, their provisions having a ll been spent for some d ays, a nd game being hard t o get, t heir I ndian guides insisted o n t urning b ack. They were also doubtless influenced b y the nearness t o a great a nd fierce tribe of I ndians l iving t o the n orth a nd w est, " o n t he G reat Water, a nd [who] m ade s a l t . " T hese were probably t he Shawnees, a nd t heir salt works were at the numerous " s a l t l i c k s " p lentiful i n K entucky, t hough the Shawnees lived north of the O hio River, a nd o nly made short forays into Kentucky. B atts a nd F allam, before t hey retreated, made simple b ut solemn proclamation that K i n g C harles of E ngland owned these waters a nd the l ands wherethrough they flowed, a nd t hey branded five trees w ith t he i nitials a nd signs of C harles, Berkeley, Wood, a nd t hemselves. A s t hey lingered upon a h eight, and cast their eyes w estward, t hey were persuaded that they s aw, " westerly, over a c ertain delightful h ill, a f og a rise, and a g limmering l ight as f rom water," a nd " supposed there t o be a great bay." N o t yet h ad t he m y t h of the " backe s e a " l ost i ts c harm. I t was c onsiderably later, n o d oubt, before t he reports of the I ndians, t he i nvestigations
1 2

E nglish were given such right as discovery bestows t o c laim the overmountain country for their king a nd n ation. B u t so l ittle known have been the sources of this history, a nd so garbled the a ccount b y some early historians, that the foremost American authorities h ave either i gnored i t or mentioned i t o nly to dismiss i t as u nreliable. Even Captain Thomas Batts' name has undergone wondrous transformations i n the pages of his few chroniclers, from " H enry Batte " (his brother) in Beverly's "Virginia," p. 62, to " B o l t " in Shaler's "Kentucky," p . 59, and " B o l t o n " I n a recent a nd most valuable work, the sources for the h istory of t his expedition, as of other early English explorations, have been gathered and placed i n the hands of the p ublic: " First Explorations of the TransAllegheny Region," b y C. W . A lvord a nd Lee B idgood, Arthur Clark C ompany, Cleveland, 1912. B y t hem this river was named Wood River. I t is now k nown i n the upper part as New R iver, a nd in the lower as the K anawha. 'Id., p . 198.
1 First Explorations of the Allegheny Region, p . 192, footnote. i n P arkman's "La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West," p . 5.

  
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of farther-going explorers, and the accounts of the French u pon the M ississippi a nd the western plains made clear t he immense distance at which lay the Pacific, that great "backe sea." W hen B atts and F allam r eturned, Governor Berkeley, excited by their report, renewed at once h is o ft-thwarted intention of heading an expedition to the m ountains. B u t he was just at this time given sufficient e mployment nearer h ome b y a discontented people, who, u nder a certain well-remembered Nathaniel Bacon, rose u p in the first insurrection of an America that would be free. The exciting cause of Bacon's Rebellion was the u npunished outrages of the Indians, who had grown h ostile. T heir attitude shut off the West for a time f rom the Englishmen; and while it is possible that there were some v enturesome hunters and traders who penetrated t he mountains, yet, so far as records go, the matter of western exploration rested for half a century. I n 1716 Alexander Spottswood, then the energetic g overnor of V irginia, r oused both by love of adventure a nd t he fear of the encroaching Frenchman i n the West, d etermined to take a step toward occupying that rampart of the mountains which separated his people f rom t heir foes. W i t h a g ay cavalcade of fifty V irginia g entlemen, as many black servants, an unknown number of "rangers, pioneers, and Indians," and a t rain of pack horses to carry his equipage and his wines, the governor set out from Wilhamsburg, the capital, and in late A u gust or early September crossed the Blue Ridge at S wift R u n Gap. W i t h due formality, Spottswood, a rriving a t the bank of the Shenandoah River, t ook possession of the valley i n t he name of his k ing, b urying there in an empty flask a paper witnessing thereto. Then the happy party of g entlemen went back home, to boast to their descendants of this doughty and i nspiring deed, and of their entrance thereby into " T h e Order of the Horseshoe." T heir horses, accustomed to bare feet o n the soft s oil

  
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of the lowlan